


The Place of Belonging

by LilacNoctua



Series: Worthwhile [10]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Moving In Together, Reunions, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:33:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28800633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacNoctua/pseuds/LilacNoctua
Summary: “Three days,” Lee said reading over his shoulder. “That is longer than we usually get. This is great!”Gaara turned to look up at Lee’s smiling face and something within him snapped.“No."“No?” Lee asked, frowning.“No. I’m not sending you back after three days,” Gaara decided.Gaara is tired of Lee leaving almost as soon as he arrives.
Relationships: Gaara/Rock Lee
Series: Worthwhile [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729480
Comments: 42
Kudos: 111





	1. Negotiation

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place roughly a year after the ending of Carried Away.

Lee tried not to fidget as he waited for the ANBU guard to identify him so he could enter the village. This one, whom they called Khamsin, had a special ability that allowed her to see a person’s chakra and recognize the patterns unique to each. Individual and unmistakable, she had once told Lee, as the swirl of a thumbprint or the sequence of DNA. She assessed Lee for a moment outside the gate house then nodded once.

“Good to see you again, Lee.” Lee could hear her smiling behind the cloth that hid her face. “Do you want me to walk you over?”

“Thank you, but I better run. The Hokage said this was very urgent”

“Oh that’s right,” Khamsin said pensively. “You’ve got a brand new Hokage, haven’t you.”

“Yes, and Lord Kakashi made it very clear that my mission was to deliver this message to Gaara as quickly as possible. He said it is too important to send by hawk,” Lee explained.

“Sounds serious,” Khamsin agreed. “Well, I won’t keep you. If you want to swap mission stories later, just say the word. Aejej and I will be watching you while you’re here.”

The both threw their heads back and laughed as though it had been a joke rather than a thinly veiled threat, and then Lee took off towards the looming dome of the Kazekage Tower at a dead sprint. 

Children gathered where the dust of his passing settled, whispering among themselves, “The Green Ninja is back again.”

He barrelled through the door into the cool, darkened atrium of the tower, and began climbing the stairs three at a time. On the top floor, he hurtled down the hall, grinning as the elaborately carved wooden doors of Gaara’s office finally came into view. 

He burst through the door just as Gaara was leaving his office. Lee yelped in surprise and tried to stop, but his momentum still carried him forwards. Gaara’s eyes went wide and suddenly they were both engulfed in sand which slowed Lee’s forward motion and cushioned their fall. Just as quickly, the sand retreated into the gourd that leaned against the side of the desk, leaving them sprawled on the floor.

“Gaara!” Lee cried, propping himself up on his elbows. “I am so sorry!”

“Lee,” Gaara said in his most stern voice. “If I ever complain about you barging into my office like this, you will know that you are looking at someone impersonating me with a transformation jutsu. You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

“About as happy as I am to see you?” Lee kissed him quickly and then sat up, gathering Gaara into his lap. “I have missed you.”

“You saw me four days ago,” Gaara reminded him, laughing softly.

“For five minutes!” Lee protested. “That is not enough time.”

“And how long are you staying this time?” Gaara asked, smoothing down Lee’s tangled, windswept hair.

“I do not know yet. I have - oh!” He jumped to his feet and set Gaara on the edge of his desk. “I forgot! I was so excited to see you that I forgot! I am here on official business. I have brought you a very important message from the new Hokage!” 

He offered Gaara a sealed roll of paper. The seal released at Gaara’s touch and the message unfurled itself. He studied it for a moment and then looked at Lee suspiciously.

“Well,” he said slowly. “This is Kakashi’s handwriting so I know he wrote it himself. What exactly did he tell you when he gave you this?”

“He said that I should run this message to you as quickly as I could, that it was too important to send by messenger hawk,” Lee reported.

“Anything else? Does he expect me to send you back with some sort of reply?” Gaara asked, fighting to keep his lip from twitching.

“He did not say.”

Gaara eased off the edge of his desk and crossed his arms. “Lee, be honest with me. Do you know what this message says?”

“Of course not!” Lee cried. “He said it was top secret and extremely important.”

“Here. Read it.” Gaara passed him the slip of paper and then crossed the room to lock the door and seal the edges with sand.

Lee unfurled the paper and read:

_ Surprise!!! _

_ Love, Kakashi  _

_ P.S. You’re welcome. _

“What does this mean?” Lee wondered, his eyebrows drawing together in a frown.

“It means,” Gaara explained, sauntering slowly towards him. “That Kakashi thinks I’ve been working too hard.”

“You have been,” Lee pointed out.

“So have you.”

“There has been a lot to do.” Lee shrugged. “But I do not understand. What is the surprise? Is this a code.”

Gaara laughed, stepping right into Lee’s personal space. “He didn’t send me an urgent message. It was a ruse. He was just looking for a reason to send you here. You’re the surprise.”

“Oh!” Lee swept Gaara off the floor and kissed him as he spun them both around in a circle. “Well then, this is the best mission ever!”

“Yes,” Gaara agreed as Lee set him down on the edge of the desk again. “The door’s locked by the way.”

“You do not need to tell me twice.” Lee flicked his wrists and the bandages around his hands began to unwind. Gaara didn’t mind the grit of dust on his lips as Lee kissed him, or that he tasted of salt and smelled like the sun scorched desert afternoon. What mattered was that he was here, locked in Gaara’s office, and his bare hands were lifting the long white robe, pulling it over his head, unbuttoning his jacket, and then tugging open the fastening of his pants and yanking the waistband down.

“You don’t waste any time, do you?” Gaara laughed breathlessly.

“It has been far too long already.” Lee insisted. He paused to gesture at the stacks of reports and array stationery supplies on the desk behind Gaara. “Do you need those?”   
Gaara grinned at him and then turned to send the entire painstakingly organized contents of his desk flying with a sweep of his arm. As the papers settled on the floor, he caught Lee by the collar of his jumpsuit and hauled him up onto the desk as well.

*****

The office was a mess, his hip bone was digging uncomfortably into the wooden surface of the desk, and his skin was beginning to stick to Lee’s. Gaara couldn’t bring himself to care in the slightest.

“I really missed you,” Lee whispered.

“Me too,” Gaara replied, running his fingers through Lee’s sweaty hair.

“If only it could be this way all the time,” Lee sighed wistfully. 

Gaara bit his tongue. This was a thought that occupied a permanent space in the back of his mind. Whenever he and Lee were able to steal time together, he wanted to hold on to him and never let him go. When Lee was gone, Gaara thought constantly about how much better everything would be if they were together, what he would say to Lee if only he were here. He knew for a fact that Neji and Kankuro had a running joke about Long Distance Pining as a sporting event.

He had tried very hard to be like Temari, who stoically carried on as usual and then just quietly disappeared to find Shikamaru as soon as they reached Konoha. Gaara knew her well enough to be able to tell that she missed him, but she almost never spoke about him and she didn’t act much differently than she had before. 

Gaara on the other hand, had failed colossally at keeping his feelings to himself. He could scarcely help but mention Lee in every conversation, kept photographs of him all over his bedroom and his office, had stolen one of Lee’s favourite sweatshirts which he now wore on cold nights (Kankuro laughed hysterically every time because it was bright green and read BEAST MODE in giant orange letters across the front). He was even having a lotus pond constructed in one of the greenhouses because it reminded him of Lee. He spent far more time than he cared to admit reading flowery romance novels, both getting choked up over the emotional scenes and taking notes on ideas for romantic gestures he could use on Lee later. 

Kankuro had described this whole phenomenon as, “sickening, horrifying, and adorable.” Temari called it, “a deeply disturbing green nightmare from which there is no awakening.” Knowing that his siblings had accepted Lee as one of their own was a deep relief to Gaara.

Lee’s voice broke him out of his reverie. “Gaara, I um, really need a bath.”

“Hmm? Oh. I suppose you ran all the way here, didn’t you?”

Lee turned his nose into his own armpit and reeled back with a look of shock and horror. “Gaara! I am so sorry! Why did you let me anywhere near you?”

“I don’t really mind,” Gaara shrugged. “I’m just happy you’re here.”

“Apparently!” Lee laughed. “I will just run to your place and freshen up. Are you coming?”

“I have to stay here and finish the mission assignments for tomorrow,” Gaara explained. He looked around at the papers that littered the floor, an ink bottle that had overturned on the rug. “And clean up.”

“I will come back and help you!” Lee decided. “Did you have lunch?”

“No, I was just about to go get something to eat when you burst in.” 

“It is decided then. I will come back with food and help you work!” Lee jumped off the desk, shimmied back into his clothes and dashed out the door.

*****

Lee had reclaimed his sweatshirt and was holding Gaara against his chest as Gaara read to him from one of his favourite novels. He knew that Lee was only half listening, paying more attention to Gaara than he was to the words. That suited Gaara perfectly; a series of tiny kisses against the back of his ear made a lovely accompaniment to the novel's heros being snowed into a cabin in the wilderness together.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“It’s okay, you can come in,” Gaara called.

“Not a fucking chance,” Kankuro’s voice called through the door. “There’s a messenger hawk here for you.”

Gaara rolled out of bed and crossed to the door to accept the message from Kankuro. 

“I wouldn’t invite you in if we were naked,” he reminded his brother.

Kankuro snorted. “I don’t care, you two are nauseating and I refuse to be in the same room as a third wheel. Especially not this room.” Kankuro turned and hurried away to his own room down the hall.

Gaara climbed back into bed, leaned against Lee and unrolled the message.

_ Dear Gaara, _

_ I trust you have received my top secret message by now. I apologize but I forgot to specify earlier that you should keep the messenger for three days and then send him back.  _

_ Love, _

_ Kakashi _

“Three days,” Lee said reading over his shoulder. “That is longer than we usually get. This is great!”

Gaara turned to look up at Lee’s smiling face and something within him snapped.

“No."

“No?” Lee asked, frowning.

“No. I’m not sending you back after three days,” Gaara decided.

“Then, what. . .”

Gaara turned so they were sitting face to face on the bed and took a deep breath. “Lee, what if you just stayed here permanently?”

Lee’s eyebrows disappeared beneath his hair. “Can I do that?”

“If you want to.”

“Then why have we been running back and forth like this for almost two years?” Lee asked, bewildered.

“Because I thought it would be selfish to ask you to leave your team, your sensei, and your village to stay here with me,” Gaara explained, then added quickly, “And it is, so I understand if you can’t. But I’m just so sick of this. I’m sick of having to say goodbye to you almost as soon as I say hello, and missing you all the time, and all the time that’s wasted just by not being with you.”

“I am too,” Lee agreed, much quieter now. “But Gaara, I am a Leaf ninja. Am I even allowed to live in Suna?”

“It’s not unheard of,” Gaara shrugged. “Allied villages tend to exchange ninjas for these types of reasons. Also, I’m the Kazekage and you’re practically the Hokage’s step-son at this point, who’s going to stop us?”

Lee thought for a long moment then said slowly, “Gai-sensei has been much too busy since Kakashi took office, I mostly train without him now. And Tenten and Neji seem to have figured things out, they should be fine without me.”

“So you’ll do it? You’ll stay?” Gaara asked, gripping Lee’s hands.

“Yes,” Lee decided, suddenly grinning from ear to ear. Gaara scrambled off the bed and dashed to his desk. He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and then wrote:

_ Dear Kakashi, _

_ Thank you for the lovely surprise. I have decided to keep your messenger permanently. Hope you won’t mind. _

_ Love, _

_ Gaara _

_ P.S. I hope you and Gai are both well. _

He rolled the message up, gave it to the hawk, and opened the window to allow the bird to take flight into the night. 

“That’s that,” he said, and launched himself back into the bed.

The next morning there was a hawk on the breakfast table, attempting to steal scraps off Kankuro’s plate.

“Oh good, you’re up,” his brother grumbled. “Can you please take your message and get this damn bird out of here.”

Gaara unrolled the letter absentmindedly as he poured a cup of coffee for Lee.

_ Dear Gaara, _

_ Not so simple, I’m afraid. I’ll try to sort things out here for you, but it may take a while. Lee is a valuable asset to the village after all. If you can arrange everything with your own council in the next three days then by all means keep him while I fix things here, but otherwise send him back as scheduled until everything is settled. Unfortunately, this will mean a lot of paperwork for both of us. _

_ Love,  _

_ Kakashi _

_ P.S. Gai is currently sobbing uncontrollably about his precious students growing up and finding love. So, thank you, for that. _

Gaara groaned. “I forgot about the stupid council.”

“What have those old buzzards done now?” Kankuro wondered. 

"I’ve decided that Lee is going to live here now, but Kakashi says we need their approval for that. And approval from his council too, apparently,” Gaara grumbled.

Kankuro choked on his breakfast. 

“Lee is going to do what now?” Temari’s voice demanded from the doorway.

“Live here,” Gaara repeated. “But of course, there’s a bunch of bureaucracy in the way. Nothing can ever be easy, can it?”

“Since when?” Temari squawked.

“Since I was born, basically."

“No, I mean since when is he going to live here?” 

“Oh. I decided yesterday.”

“You could have maybe, I don’t know, given us some advance warning?” Kankuro suggested.

“Why? We can live in a different house if you prefer.” Gaara shrugged.

“No!” Temari said quickly. “He doesn’t mean it that way. It just sort of came out of the blue.”

“Yeah, well, I got sick of only getting to see the man I love every few weeks for a few hours or days at best. I just decided.” He turned to look at Temari. “Surely, you get that.”

“Don’t even get me started,” she growled, throwing herself into a chair and helping herself to coffee. “You’re lucky that Lee and his family aren’t stuck on tradition and a  _ proper courtship _ .” The last phrase came out as a venomous sneer.

“The council probably will be,” Gaara reminded her morosely.

“Ah yes, I have that to look forward to as well,” Temari agreed. “Go on, baby brother. Smooth the way for me.”

Gaara glared at her and then stood up from the table, “Come on, Lee. No sense waiting for them to get any younger.”

He all but dragged Lee by the arm all the way to the council chambers where he declared an urgent meeting. The council assembled quickly, many of them greeting Lee warmly on their way to their seats. Over the past two years, he had become quite popular in Suna, and had made a point to get to know as many of its residents as possible. Gaara hoped that that would finally help them today. Once the entire council was assembled, he drew up a chair for Lee, earning a few raised eyebrows as council meetings were usually strictly closed to the public, let alone foreign ninja, and took a seat himself.

“Lee is here because he is to be the subject of this meeting,” Gaara explained. 

One elderly woman reprimanded him, “Lord Gaara, we have told you before. When introducing a person it is most polite to use their full and proper name and tell us where he is from.”

“My apologies,” Gaara said smoothly, his eye twitching only the tiniest bit. “Has everyone had a chance to make the acquaintance of Rock Lee from Konoha?”

The council all voiced their assent.

“Alright, good,” Gaara said. “Now that that’s out of the way, I must inform you all that I have written to the Hokage to request Lee’s immediate and permanent transfer to Suna.”

There was a round of gasps and shocked murmuring.

“Lord Gaara,” a middle aged man with thick glasses spoke up. “Why have you requested this?”

“Because I would like Lee to live here, and he agreed to,” Gaara said flatly.

“And where within the village do you propose to house him?” Another councilwoman inquired.

“In my house,” Gaara said slowly.

There was another round of gasps and tut-tutting.

“That’s hardly proper!”

“And what are we to tell the leaders of the other villages?”

“The scandal!”

“Wait, now just hold on a minute,” one of the councilmen piped up. “In the past it has not been uncommon for allied Kages to exchange shinobi as bodyguards in a gesture of good will and good faith.”

“It isn’t even that uncommon for a shinobi to move to another village,” Gaara pointed out. 

“Only to get married,” the eldest of the councilwomen said tartly. “Is that what you’re proposing?”

Lee made a strange muffled sound, then looked at Gaara inquisitively for a long moment before shaking his head and hiding his burning face in his hands. 

“Well, it’s not. . . I’m not saying . . .” Gaara was suddenly flustered. “I mean,  _ not right now. _ ”

“And why not?” the councilwoman demanded. “The way you two are carrying on, the disgrace if anyone were to find out would be unbearable. Better to do it sooner rather than wait.”

“Everyone already knows, granny,” one of the younger councilmen drawled. “I mean, they’ve never really tried to hide it.”

Lee turned even redder beneath his hands and the councilwoman cackled.

“Lee, why don’t you go home and help Kankuro and Temari,” Gaara suggested. “I can handle this from here.”

“You sure?” Lee whispered.

“Yes, go, it’s fine.”

“Thank you!” Lee took his leave politely yet hastily.

“He’s so cute,” the oldest councilwoman cackled. “I see why you want to keep him.”

Her neighbour leaned over and muttered in her ear, “I wouldn’t mind having a young man who wore clothes that tight, myself.”

“Ladies, if you please,” Gaara said, making a great effort not to grind his teeth in frustration. He turned to the rest of the council. “Surely we can come to a solution that works for all of us here.”

The meeting dragged on through the morning and well into the afternoon. Gaara arrived home just in time for dinner, fuming, his head throbbing with frustration.

All thoughts of the meeting were chased from his mind as soon as he stepped into the kitchen. The scent of curry hung in the air and Lee had tied a floral apron on over his clothes and was dancing as he cooked. Gaara hurried over to throw his arms around Lee’s waist from behind and bury his face between Lee’s shoulder blades. All the frustration would be worth it if he could have this every day for the rest of his life.

“You okay?” Lee asked.

“Just happy to see you,” Gaara muttered into his back. 

“How did it go?”

“So much worse once they could talk about you without you hearing it,” Gaara groaned. 

“And did they come to any resolution?” Lee asked, nervous.

“Not yet. Generally, they’re accepting of you moving here, but feel the need to agree with Konoha on the official reason for your transfer, and they’re all concerned about whether or not you’ll still be identified as a Leaf shinobi, or if they’ll have to acknowledge you formally as a Sand shinobi.”

“I would rather remain a Leaf shinobi, if that is okay,” Lee said quietly.

Gaara nodded, “That’s what I told them. They said it will probably be easier that way anyway.”

“Okay, that is not bad.”

“And they’re all twisted in knots about where you’ll live. They don’t think it’s proper for us to live together.”

“I can live next door or something,” Lee suggested.

“No,” Gaara shook his head stubbornly. “You’re staying with me. Always.”

Lee laughed and turned around within the circle of Gaara’s arms to plant a kiss on his forehead. “Alright, I will stay with you. There was a message from Kakashi-sensei earlier. You might want to read it.”

Gaara found the message sitting on the kitchen counter and read:

_ Dear Gaara, _

_ Proposed your plan to council this morning. There was a lot of arguing and I wasn’t always paying attention, but basically it seems like it can happen, we just all have to argue about it for a long time first. Prepare to have to send him back while we sort this out. _

_ Sorry, _

_ Kakashi _

_ P.S. Gai and the kids are already making plans to visit. Brace yourself. _

Gaara sighed and slumped down at the table.

“Why can nothing ever be easy?” he fumed.

“You know what is easy? This.” Lee took Gaara’s chin in his hand, tilted his face upwards and gave him a long, soft kiss.

“Yes, exactly,” Gaara sighed. “Why can’t everything be just like that?”


	2. Home At Last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Content Warning:** alcohol/intoxication mention

Lee cried at the gate as he swore to Gaara that he would be back soon. Gaara kissed him and vowed to himself that this would be the last time they parted this way. He knew that once Lee was living in Suna, he would still be sent out on missions, would occasionally leave to visit his friends back in Konoha and Gaara would not always be able to go with him. But as he saw it, temporary separation would be far more bearable than this fleeting togetherness. He climbed the wall to watch Lee until he disappeared over the horizon, a green spark flying on the wind over the sun scorched landscape.

The council argued for an entire week. It felt to Gaara like this argument would drag on for even longer than it had when he had announced his intention to take the title of Kazekage in first place. By the end of the week, the messenger hawks were becoming temperamental in their exhaustion after constant flights back and forth between Konoha and Suna, and Gaara was finally beyond the point of caring about the council’s intrusive comments about his sex life. It was starting to seem like they would talk in circles forever when Kakashi finally sent him the message he had been waiting for:

_ Dear Gaara, _

_ It seems your council and mine are finally in agreement. But because they like to over complicate literally everything, they require you to send a delegation to come get him and sign some stuff. I talked them out of holding some sort of weird ceremony. You’re welcome. Just send a hawk when you’re on your way. I’ve told Lee to start packing. _

_ Love,  _

_ Kakashi _

_ P.S. Gai is insisting on hosting dinner on Lee’s last night in the village. Don’t be alarmed; I volunteered to cook. _

Temari readied the travelling procession, harried all the while by Gaara’s impatience. He wanted to run to Konoha but the council had once again insisted that he ride while the rest of the procession walked. At least on the trip back, he would have Lee to keep him company.

At that pace it took them more than three days to reach Konoha. There was a crowd waiting for them at the gates of the village, buzzing with whispers. They parted to allow Gaara’s procession through and then followed him along the route to the Hokage Tower.

“You don’t want to get settled at the hotel or freshen up first?” Temari asked.

“No,” Gaara insisted. “I;ve waited long enough.”

The meeting was held on the roof of the tower. Gaara was made to sit across a long table from Kakashi, surrounded by both councils. Gai, Naruto, and Lee stood behind Kakashi’s chair. Temari and Kankuro took their places behind Gaara. The crowd of curious onlookers assembled around the edges of the roof. 

“Lord Kazekage,” Kakashi said, in the voice he always used when he was trying to sound authoritative. “It is my opinion that Konoha owes Suna a great debt of gratitude for your aid over the past years. As the new Hokage, I wish to reaffirm our friendship by offering you one of my own shinobi to act as your personal bodyguard.”

“I would be honoured to accept this gift,” Gaara recited, just as the council had coached him to.

“The shinobi I have chosen is Rock Lee. Is that acceptable to you?”

“It is.”

Kakashi, Gaara, and Lee himself were made to sign several documents. It took all of Gaara’s willpower not to roll his eyes, and he could tell that Kakashi was struggling as well, but both Councils looked extremely pleased with themselves. They spent most of the meeting shaking hands and patting each other on the back.

“Well, that was ridiculous,” Kakashi complained as soon as they had closed themselves up in his office where the crowd and the council could not hear him. 

Gaara nodded his agreement. “But at least it’s done.” 

“So what’s your plan now?”

“I am completely packed,” Lee informed them. “I have allowed Neji to move into my apartment. This way he is out from under the thumb of the Hyuga clan.”

“Where are you staying?” Gaara wondered.

“Still there with him, but it is a little crowded.”

Gaara took a deep breath. “When would you like to leave?”

“I have said goodbye already to my old home, to the academy and the training fields, and even my dojo.” Lee said. There was a sadness in his voice that made Gaara feel horribly guilty. “The only thing left is to say a proper goodbye to my friends.”

“It isn’t a permanent goodbye,” Gaara whispered.

“No, I know,” Lee said brightly. “But it is always a strange feeling when you know everything in your life is about to change. Even if it is in the best way possible. Suddenly you appreciate so many little things you had been taking for granted.” 

“We’ll have dinner tonight at my house,” Kakashi said gently. “You can stay with Gai and I tonight and leave in the morning if you’d like.”

* * * * *

Gai seemed to have gone out of his way to invite everyone to what had quickly evolved from a dinner with friends to a full fledged going away party for Lee. Gaara, Choji and Hinata were pressed into service helping Kakashi cook, while Sakura and Naruto screeched at each other in the living room as they attempted to hang a banner that Sai had painted for the occasion.

By dinnertime, the crowd spilled from the dining room out into both the kitchen and living room. Gai had already had a few too many drinks and kept hugging Lee, crying and making impassioned speeches about what a wonderful man he’d become.

“He is wonderful, isn’t he?” Gaara said, reaching out to tentatively pat Gai’s arm. Suddenly he himself was wrapped in an overpoweringly strong hug, and Gai was weeping into his shoulder about how happy he was that Lee had someone who loved and understood him so well.

Gaara smiled and hugged Gai back. “Thank you. You know, he is the way he is because of you.”

Gai began sobbing inconsolably and Kakashi came to pry him off of Gaara. He dragged Gaara into the kitchen and gave him a very stern lecture on the dangers of saying anything sincere or heartfelt to Gai if he had been drinking or was already in a heightened emotional state.

“After all,” he said. “You’ll have lots of chances to bond with him later. He’s going with you.”

“He is?”

“Yes. Gai, Tenten and Neji have all insisted on accompanying Lee to Suna and seeing him settled,” Kakashi explained.

Gaara nodded. He didn’t know why he would have expected anything different. 

“Gaara, come out here!” Lee called from the living room. “They’ve got a present for us!”

Gaara found Lee sitting on a couch, surrounded by Tenten, Neji, Hinata, Sakura, Sai and Ino. A few others were gathering closer to get a look at the decorated parcel in Lee’s lap.

“Let us explain,” Ino started. “It’s sort of a strange present but we thought it would be a good keepsake. You know, something you could laugh about later.”

Gaara was already uneasy about where this was going.

“So you know how the two of you have been causing a huge scandal for like, ages,” Ino went on.

“What?” Lee asked.

“No.” Gaara said.

“I told you they didn’t know,” Neji sighed. 

“Honestly! Don’t either of you ever pick up a magazine?” Sakura demanded.

Lee and Gaara both stared at her blankly.

“Oh my god. Well, you two have been big news for a while, and so we compiled this,” Ino explained. “Open it.”

Lee removed the wrapping to reveal a massive scrapbook with a glossy magazine photo on the cover. It had been taken during the trial where Gaara’s former councilman and the leader of Kusagakure were found guilty of a conspiracy to overthrow Suna and destroy its alliances. In the photo, Lee and Gaara were standing outside the doors of the palace's great hall, Lee had his arm around Gaara’s shoulders and Gaara was smiling up at him.

“Oh no,” Gaara sighed. “No wonder people have been gossiping about us. Were we always that obvious?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Kankuro piped up. “It’s been nonstop gross for years. Even before you two got together.”

“Open the book,” Sakura urged. Lee flipped back the front cover and ruffled the pages to reveal that the entire thing was full of clippings from gossip columns and magazines.

“There’s another one we’re still working on,” Hinata explained. “But we’re saving that one for a wed- I mean, another present.”

Gaara chose to pretend he hadn’t heard that last part.

The first page held a large newspaper clipping with a bold headline:

**_Kazekage spotted on night out with Leaf ninja pal_ **

Below that was a slightly out of focus photograph of him and Lee wandering hand in hand through the streets of the capital city of the Land of Rivers.

He flipped a few more pages and found:

**_Leaf ninja almost dies defending Kazekage from assassin_ **

The headline was followed by a lurid article about how Lee had bravely sacrificed himself to make it possible for Kankuro and Tenten to capture Kiyomori’s agent.

**_Missing Kazekage Found! Leaf Shinobi Seen Leaving Village!_ **

Gaara snorted and flipped a page.

**_Did the Kazekage spend the night in Rock Lee’s apartment?_ **

_ Sources from within the village tell us that the Kazekage was seen entering the building early in the evening, though a neighbour claims that the ninja in question was away for a mission at the time. Shortly after sunrise, a commotion was heard as the Kazekage’s attendants knocked on the apartment door. Rock Lee was seen walking the Kazekage to the gate, the pair looking very cozy together.  _

This was accompanied by a photograph of the two of them at the gate in which Lee could very clearly be seen kissing Gaara’s forehead.

“Sorry, we tried really hard to keep them away from you,” Naruto grumbled.

**_FRIENDS OR LOVERS: ARE ROCK LEE AND LORD GAARA AN ITEM????_ **

Lee laughed particularly hard at that one. Gaara noticed that the article had been published the day after their first date. He was just glad there was no photograph of them kissing in the courtyard outside Lee’s building. There had been more than enough curious eyes that evening.

**_Rock Lee seen leaving the Kazekage Tower. . . Again!_ **

“You were never especially subtle,” Gaara chuckled.

“That is not one of my talents,” Lee agreed.

**_Kazekage triumphantly returns in wake of ambush . . . with Rock Lee on his arm!_ **

“As I recall,” Kiba piped up. “You returned half dead in the back of a cart. If Lee was on your arm it was cause he passed out on top of it.”

**_Lord Gaara and Rock Lee Refuse To Be Separated During Hospital Stay!_ **

_ A Leaf medical specialist, Sakura Haruno, has confirmed that Rock Lee and Lord Gaara are sharing a hospital room at the Kazekage’s request. “They’re both on bed rest and being real dicks about it,” she told us in an exclusive statement (Read more on page 12!). Could the hospital be the scene of Suna’s greatest love story? _

“Sakura!” Lee cried.

“That’s what you get for making my job difficult,” Sakura retorted.

**_Suna Scandalized As Rock Lee Stays Overnight At Kazekage’s Residence!_ **

“I just love how they reported it as though it was all a big secret that they had uncovered, even though literally everyone knew about it,” Ino laughed.

There were dozens of pages of articles and photographs from the trial, and particularly about Lee’s very public confession and the fact that they hadn’t been as secretive as they’d intended to be about sharing Gaara’s room. Gaara noted that more than a few of the Wind Daimyo’s staff were willing to tell tales, some of them not even entirely true.

“This is wrong,” Lee protested, pointing at a line in one of the articles. “We definitely did not order a gallon of chocolate syrup.”

“Can you even get bottles of syrup that big?” Choji wondered.

Finally there were a significant number of articles about Lee surviving the attack that had been meant as a trap for Gaara. One of them was accompanied by a photograph of Gaara leaning out of his saddle to kiss Lee goodbye at the gates of Konoha. It was an extraordinarily well shot photograph, and Gaara could even see the tears glimmering on Lee’s eyelashes. He decided to get another copy to keep in his office. It looked terribly romantic, like an illustration for a fairy tale.

The final article trumpeted:

**_Office of the Hokage Announces: Rock Lee to Officially Move to Suna!_ **

“They work fast,” Gaara noted.

“There will be more of those,” Sakura told him. “Kakashi’s already had at least a dozen interview requests.”

“This gift is so thoughtful!” Lee exclaimed. “What a fun way for us to look back on the beginning of this relationship.”

“And thank you for at least trying to keep the reporters away from us,” Gaara added. “The fact that we never noticed this, I’m guessing, is a testament to your hard work.”

“You can say that again,” Naruto muttered.

“Come to think of it,” Lee said. “In the past year, I’ve had a few complete strangers ask me about you, but Tenten always pulls out a knife and they slink away. I thought it was odd.”

“Lee!” Tenten cried suddenly. “What are you going to do without us? What are we going to do without you?”

Lee burst into tears. Gaara’s heart sank. 

“We will be okay, Tenten!” Lee shouted, leaping to his feet to throw his arms around both her and Neji.

“I know.” Tenten was sobbing now too. “But for some reason I thought Team Gai would carry on, I don't know, indefinitely. It’s like the end of a huge chapter in our lives.”

“The end of a chapter, yes,” Neji agreed. “But the beginning of one too.”

The rest of their friends drifted away so as not to intrude on this moment and Gaara slunk away into the kitchen, feeling ill.  Naruto found him brooding over a cup of tea.

“What’s eating you?” he asked, pulling up one of Kakashi’s kitchen chairs.

“I feel like I’m tearing Lee away from everyone else he loves because I’m selfish and I don’t want to have to share him anymore,” Gaara muttered, glowering at the dregs in the bottom of his cup.

Naruto snorted. “Lee wants to move in with you. It’s all he’s talked about since he came home. He’s so excited.”

“Then why is he sobbing into Neji’s shoulder right now?”

“Things change, Gaara. Sometimes because of chance, and sometimes by our own choice. It’s never easy. But you can’t just stay still,” Naruto explained.

“You’re awfully wise tonight,” Gaara grumbled.

Naruto raised a small bottle and swished it from side to side, grinning mischievously. “I learned Granny Tsunade’s secret to infinite wisdom.”

“Careful with that stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah, skip the lecture.” Naruto yawned. “Now listen, things were going to change in Lee’s life anyway. Tenten and Neji have been like a real couple for a while now. If Lee had stayed, he’d just be the third wheel. And an unhappy third wheel because his special person is always so far away. It’ll take them a while to get used to things, and they’re always going to miss each other a little bit, but it will be fine. They’re family, they’ll always be a team.”

Gaara sighed and shook his head. “We’ve talked before about the places we belong, and despite what he says I still can’t help but feel like I’m tearing Lee out of his place in the world.”

“This is something I’ve thought about a lot over the years,” Naruto said quietly, unusually serious. “The conclusion I have come to is that a person can belong in more than one place. A person leaves little pieces of himself with all the people who care about him, and the absence of those pieces hurts. You always want to be reunited with them and be whole again. Many people care about Lee. Perhaps to be constantly pulled from one place to another, to belong in more places than you could ever occupy all at once, is a gift, even if it is a rather painful one.”

Gaara stared at him.

“I think that’s how Lee would feel about it anyway.” Naruto shrugged, taking another sip from his bottle. “He wants to be with you, but a part of his heart will always be left behind with his family here. It’s not a bad thing.”

“But what if his family is more worthy of his heart and his presence than I could ever be?” Gaara whispered. 

Naruto shot out of his chair, seized Gaara by his shoulders and shook him, blue eyes blazing. 

“Gaara, you listen here,” he growled. “Lee is someone I trust to always know what’s right, he’s gifted that way. If he believes you’re worthy of him, then all of us believe you are too. And I  _ know  _ you, remember. All that shit that happened, you didn’t ask for any of it. None of it should ever have happened to you. To either of us. You fucking deserve to be happy now, you deserve to be loved. And you deserve to be loved by someone like Lee who’s whole and uncomplicated, and loves with his whole damn heart and soul. That’s what I always wanted for you.”

“Thanks, Naruto,” Gaara muttered, slightly bewildered.

Naruto smiled and sat back down. “Don’t worry too much about Lee, he’s happy, he really is.”

That said, it was hard for Gaara not to worry when Lee approached him not long after, still teary eyed, to explain that Neji and Tenten wanted him to spend the night with them in his old apartment. One last time, as he put it.

Naruto took it upon himself to sit up with Gaara through the night, perched side by side on top of Kakashi’s roof like a pair of autumn coloured gargoyles. 

“They grew up together,” Naruto reminded him. “Hell, if Sakura started dating a foreign ninja and then decided to leave the village to be with them, I’d be a mess. I can’t imagine life without Sakura. I’d be happy for her though. I wouldn’t try to keep her here.”

“Would you be a mess because she’s your best friend, or because it’s Sakura?” Gaara asked.

Naruto punched his arm. “Shut up! I’m not twelve anymore! Can none of you ever let that go?”

Gaara laughed and was silent for a long moment before asking, “Have I ever told you that I’m so happy I met you?”

“Usually at least once a year.” Naruto reminded him, grinning. “Seriously though Gaara, I’m honoured to have been able to be your friend for what, like ten years now? And Lee’s friend too. I want what’s best for both of you, and I really think that what’s best for each of you is each other.”

“Yeah, I do, too.” Gaara said dreamily. “He’s the most perfect man.”

Naruto snorted. “Okay, buddy. If you say so.” He patted Gaara’s shoulder affectionately. “Hey look, sun’s coming up. What time do you guys leave?”

“When everything is ready I guess,” Gaara said heavily. “I’m worried about this. He’s going to cry when it’s time to go. I feel terrible.”

Naruto shrugged again. “Change is always hard, but everything will be so much better afterwards.”

* * * * *

Naruto waited with Gaara outside of Lee’s apartment building. Gaara didn’t want to go inside and see the apartment rearranged and filled with Neji’s things. He wanted to preserve it in his memory as it had been the night Lee had leaped through the kitchen window at the crack of dawn to confess his feelings. He wanted to always be able to close his eyes and remember lying in Lee’s arms on the rickety pull out couch, both of them bathed in the blue glow from the television screen. It had always been a safe, comfortable place for him, and suddenly it hurt it to think they would be leaving it. 

Neji, Lee, and Tenten came down to meet them, carrying the last of Lee’s belongings. Gone were the tears of the previous evening; Lee practically skipped down the stairs, whooping with excitement and Tenten raced after him, shouting. Neji came last of all, chuckling and dragging a large suitcase. 

“Gaara!” Lee cried, squashing him in a hug. “Are you ready to go?”

“I am if you are,” Gaara said, his heart in his throat.

Lee squeezed him excitedly and then hurried them all along to the gate, chattering with Tenten all the while about how they could entertain themselves on the long walk to Suna.

Neji pulled Gaara out from under Lee’s arm and slowed his pace so they lagged behind the rest.

“I see what you’re thinking,” Neji whispered, fixing his unsettling white eyes on Gaara’s face. “Take it from me, if someone loves you and decides they want to be with you, it’s not your place to try to tell them that they shouldn’t, or to decide what’s best for them. That can only lead to disaster. Lee has made his mind up, as is his right.”

“But-” Gaara started.

“No,” Neji said firmly. “If someone like that loves you, don’t argue, don’t claim to be unworthy. Listen to me, I learned this the hard way. If you have been blessed the same way I have, be grateful, love him the way he deserves to be loved, and never ever look back.”

“Neji -”

“If he decides it’s a mistake he’ll come back here to us.” Neji smiled mysteriously. “But I don’t think you need to worry about that at all.”

“But you and Tenten, and Gai.” Gaara shook his head. “You’re his family, and I’m making him move so far away.”

Neji looked down his nose at Gaara, who suddenly felt extremely small. “You couldn’t make Lee do anything he didn’t want to, even if you tried. He chose this. Last night, after we had all finished crying and reminiscing, all he could talk about was how excited he is to be moving in with you. Gaara, just shut up before you let your own self loathing ruin your happiness. Lee is my brother, more family to me than my own clan, and so you’re important to me too. I’m here to stop you from repeating my own mistakes.”

With that Neji quickened his pace and slipped into the space between Lee and Tenten. Gaara hurried to catch up and pull Lee’s arm back around his shoulder again. 

At the gate, Naruto threw his arms around Lee and said in a voice thick with emotion, “This village just won’t be the same without you Bushy Brow. Take good care of Gaara for me, and if Suna doesn’t appreciate having its own Handsome Green Devil, let me know. I’ll straighten them out.”

Lee squeezed him so hard, Gaara was sure he could hear Naruto’s ribs cracking. 

“Look after this village,” Lee told him. “And Sakura. You two look after each other. I’ll see you again soon.”

“Lee! You weren’t going to leave without saying goodbye!” Sakura herself had appeared and suddenly the rest of them were there as well. They hugged Lee and ruffled his hair, patted Gaara on the back and congratulated them both. When Kakashi and a very hungover and still emotional Gai appeared, Lee hoisted Gaara up into his saddle.

Kakashi kissed Gai through his mask and said, “Don’t worry, you can do this.”

Gai’s face cleared and turned to Lee with a dazzling smile and a thumbs up. “Alright then, Lee, let’s get moving. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover!” 

With that, the procession set out through the village gates. Just before the forest closed around them, Lee turned to look back for one last glimpse of Konoha. Then he placed his hand on Gaara’s stirrup and turned to beam up at him, and Gaara knew that Naruto and Neji had been right.

* * * * *

“And this,” Gaara said through gritted teeth. “Will be your room. It used to be my study but I honestly never used it.”

“My room?” Lee repeated, nonplussed.

Gaara heaved a deep and dramatic sigh. “Yes, your room. The traditionalists and killjoys that make up my council insisted that it would be incredibly improper for me to share a bedroom with my ‘bodyguard.’ Apparently people would talk.”

“But,” Lee protested, “Are we really going to stay in separate rooms?”

“Of course not,” Gaara scoffed. “Look at this. Kankuro helped me build it.” He pointed to an unremarkable section of the stone wall. “Touch it.”

Lee reached out and the wall turned to sand at his touch and retracted into an archway that led into Gaara’s room. 

“A secret passageway!”

“Yes. We’ll let Tenten and Neji stay here whenever they visit and the wall will just be a wall. Otherwise, you can use it as a gym or whatever you want,” Gaara explained. “But you’re sleeping in my room.  _ Our  _ room.”

“Our room,” Lee echoed, grinning widely. “Our room. I think I’m going to like being your bodyguard.”

“Don’t start with that,” Gaara scolded. “You’re not actually my bodyguard.”

“Gaara,” Lee said, catching him up in his arms and sweeping him off the floor. “I take my job very seriously. From now on, I’m going to have to follow you everywhere you go, and glare at everyone who speaks to you, and make sure they use the proper titles, and punch people who make you mad.”

“Are you a bodyguard or a hired goon?” Gaara cried, laughing as Lee began spinning in a circle. 

Lee winked at him and whispered, “Neither, really. I just love you more than life itself.”

“Good,” Gaara said. “Because I love you too, and I think we had better go into our bedroom now.”

“Oh no,” Lee said suddenly as he stepped through the archway, still carrying Gaara. “You said Neji and Tenten will be staying on the other side of that wall!” 

“Don’t worry about it,” It was Gaara’s turn to wink mischievously at Lee. “I’m willing to bet you’re way louder than both of them combined.”

“We cannot do that!” Lee protested, turning bright red. 

“Well, they’re not in there now,” Gaara pointed out. 

“Better be quick then,” Lee said, laughing as he tossed Gaara onto the bed.

Neither of them slept that night. Long after everyone else in the house had gone to sleep, they were both still giddy with excitement, wrapped around each other, constantly repeating the phrases,  _ our bed _ ,  _ our room _ , and  _ our house _ , and laughing at the joy in each other’s faces.

“This is it,” Lee sighed happily as Gaara lavished kisses upon the side of his neck. “This is for real. This is forever.”

“Forever,” Gaara repeated as he rolled Lee onto his back and climbed on top of him. “Forever, forever.”

Finally, too exhausted to remain awake any longer, they fell asleep tangled up together as the first rays of sunlight lanced through the round windows to illuminate the red petals of the roses that grew up the bedpost. It was a blissful sleep, but very short. Within a few hours, they were both awakened by a steadily increasing cacophony from the ground floor. 

Gaara learned quickly that week that wherever Team Gai was, there was laughter and activity and a never ending stream of unbelievable noise. He loved it, and had half a mind to ask them all to stay. Although Baki was careful to avoid both the house and Gai, whom he referred to as being simply too much, Temari and Kankuro seemed overjoyed to have Neji and Tenten around and Gaara had noticed them joining in on, or at least encouraging, the other team’s antics. 

Gai himself was taking every opportunity to hug Gaara, to ask him about his life, his likes and dislikes, his hopes and ambitions. He listened very seriously to everything Gaara said and was intensely supportive of all his ideas. 

Gai accompanied him to his office a few days after their arrival, insisting that he knew a thing or two about supporting a Kage’s work and Gaara should give his regular assistant a day off. Over the course of that day, Gai told Gaara he was proud of him on several occasions, mentioned that he was good for Lee, and showed a great level of concern about Gaara’s work load, health, and eating habits. 

As they were leaving the office, Gai hugged Gaara and said, “You listen to me. Your legacy is going to be that of the best Kazekage this village has ever seen. I have complete faith in you and I’m proud to be able to think of you as my own son.”

Lee later found Gaara curled up in a pathetic sand ball in the bottom of their bathtub, weeping. His concern had quickly been replaced by laughter when Gaara had told him what had happened.

“Get used to that,” Lee said. “You are part of the Team Gai family now, and Team Gai is forever.”

“There’s been a lot of forever going around lately,” Gaara hiccuped, smiling as tears continued to flow from his eyes.

Lee gathered him out of the bathtub, carried him to bed and cuddled him while he continued to laugh and cry into Lee’s shoulder. 

“How am I so lucky?” Gaara finally asked. “How did all of this happen to me?”

Lee just kissed his forehead and smiled.

* * * * *

Lee stood with tears in his eyes, smiling and waving until his team was out of sight, then he took Gaara’s hand and began walking back towards the house. 

Their house. That they lived in. Together. Gaara kept repeating that part in his head, still unable to believe his own good fortune. 

“You’re going to miss them,” Gaara said quietly.

“I already do,” Lee sighed.

“I do too,” Gaara admitted.

Lee threw his head back and laughed. “I told you that you are part of Team Gai now!”

“You’re so handsome when you laugh,” Gaara blurted out.

Lee laughed again.

Gaara stood on his tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “Take me home right now.”

“Yes,” Lee agreed. “ _ Our  _ home.”

They ran together hand in hand, hurrying through the village to reach the Kazekage’s residence and stumble through their bedroom door.

Back in the marketplace by the gate, two old ladies watched them hurrying past and smiled knowingly at each other.

“There goes that Green Ninja again,” said the first. “You know he lives with our Kazekage now.”

“Of course, dear. Everyone knows that,” cackled the second. “But did you see Lord Gaara’s face?”

“What about it?” asked the first.

“Well, ever since that man arrived, the poor dear hasn’t been able to stop smiling even for a moment,” answered the second, shaking her head. “Why, he’s positively glowing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the original ending of the series but then I just. . . kept on writing. So there will be two more stories following this one. The next one is basically bonus fluff, and the final one will be a sort of epilogue.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for the delay between the last story and this one, but thank you so much for reading! Please feel free to drop by and say hello to me on [tumblr](https://lilac-writes.tumblr.com/).


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